Venezuelan Congress Delegation In Peking

The Congress Delegation from the Republic of Venezuela led by Gonzalo Barrios, President of the Congress, made a friendship visit to China from October 11 to 18 Chairman Chu Teh and Vice-Chairmen Hsu Hsiang-chien and Ngapo Ngawang-Jigme of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping met the delegation on separate occasions during its stay in Peking The NPC Standing Committee gave a banquet at the Great Hall of the People on October 12 in honour of the delegation Vice-Chairman Hsu Hsiang-chien and Congress President Gonzalo Barrios made toasts at (he banquet In his toast, the Vice-Chairman described the Venezuelan people as a courageous people who cherish independence and freedom and have a glorious revolutionary tradition. He said The Venezuelan people have made great contributions in the wars m Latin America against Spanish colonial rule, thus opening a brilliant chapter m the annals of national liberation in Latin America Now the Venezuelan people are fighting against imperialism and hegemomsm and to defend state sovereignty and maritime rights, safeguard the country's oil resources and develop the national economy Not long ago, the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies passed a bill reaffirming its determination to continue to advance along the road of nationalization of the petroleum industry The Chinese Government and people greatly admire this and resolutely support the just struggle of the Venezuelan people Referring to the present excellent world situation, Hsu Hsiang-chien pointed out that at the Sixth Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly held this year and at the Third U N Conference on the Law of the Sea, the Third World countries waged a united struggle and demonstrated the unprecedented might, dealing heavy blow at the superpowers' hegemonic attempts, He said. As the main force in the world struggle against imperialism and hegemomsm the Third World is propelling the world situation to continue to develop in a direction more and more favourable to the people of the world The super powers will never give up their ambitions for world hegemony, but they run into a wall everywhere and find the going tougher and tougher and they are in the plight described in the verse "Flowers fall off do what one may" under the pounding of the irresistible historical trend — countries want independence, nations want liberation and the people want revolution. Vice-Chairman Hsu continued: Both China and Venezuela belong to the Third World Our two countries had similar experiences in history Today the common tasks of fighting against power politics and hegemonism and of developing the national economy link our two peoples closely The official establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Venezuela not long ago opened a new stage m the annals of relations between our two countries He expressed the conviction that the delegation's visit to China would promote the development of the relations of friendship and co-operation between the two countries, enhance the friendship and mutual understanding between the peoples of both countries and make beneficial contributions to the Third Worlds cause of unity against hegemonism. In reply Congress President Barrios said Venezuela and China have common interests. The peoples of the two countries oppose the oppression and exploitation by big imperialist powers and are struggling to defend their national interests. He said- Venezuela is an oil producer and exporter. It is making a continuous struggle to defend oil prices and explore its own resources The Venezuelan Government calls on countries upholding justice to support our struggle We are very glad that China is a Third World country and that the Chinese people support this struggle of the Venezuelan people It is not long since Venezuela and China established diplomatic relations, and we hope the relations between out two countries will develop constantly.